Gifts Received

Drake Everren's Page

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"You bring up a pretty big challenge here. What I've seen as the fundamental issue in changing opinions, and one that's not entirely obvious in most cases, is that physically wrong and mentally wrong are distinctly different…"

"That's a very common issue and it reflects a fundamental part of how our minds work: if we're dependent on some set or beliefs or identity, we can only recognize substitutes for that. If somebody eliminates that piece of identity…"

"I think you're confusing the line between cultural myths and actual beliefs. Yes, the "Altar of Money" has been a popular mythology for both criticizing and glorifying the US finance sector as it has grown significantly in…"

"What I said is that we possess different histories. We've seen different things, looked at different issues, and gathered different experiences. As a result, we have some overlap, but we also each have visibility in areas where we have…"

"Not quite, as it wasn't a self-focused reaction. I'd call it "bored by the predictable"; it's when the odds are against something really interesting happening, but there's still disappointment when it falls…"

"That kind of cutoff makes me feel like I've been preached at; that I listened to the 'sermon' and responded with certain critical questions about it, but all I received in reply was a repetition of the sermon (against the same straw…"

""What you must keep in mind is that it is not any single organism against which we should judge whether an action is right or wrong - it is against all possible organisms, present and future, to which we must look."
What you present is a…"

"The general symptoms of Membership behavior taken to extremes are: 1) Undue devaluing and sacrifice of individuals toward the "greater good" of a Group, or 2) Undue protection or privileges for individuals in central roles for the sake of…"

"Your initial point highlights a critical omission on my part, an explicit definition of Self. I rely on the concept of an "assessed-self" which contains weighted valuations of all structures within interactive distances that mimic the…"

"I think you may be conflating membership esteem with all forms of self-esteem, which is not a complete representation. Based on previous discussions about the psychology of value-determination, I would label four major "tiers" that…"

"I supposed it was a bit off-topic, but I believe that computer use need not be a tiring activity. With the right habits and ergonomics, I think intellectual posting can be mentally energizing and (at least) physically comfortable. My tangent was…"

"Do you have an old monitor, possibly even a CRT (the fat kind)? Tired eyes and pressure headaches are a common effect of straining to see low-contrast or fuzzy details, especially if you have poor lighting or a basement computer. "

"This strikes me as far less of a list of personality traits and more as consequences of being a well-developed skeptic (someone who has a high degree of alignment between physical data and their mental structuring). Only a few of these addressed…"

"As far as my experience in psychology goes, I have heard that the left brain/right brain idea is a false distinction, and that most thinking integrates across the whole brain.
My own views are a bit unusual, though, as I consider…"

"Why do those have to be separate things? Personally, "walking in nature" and meditative times is when I am most effective at poring over ideas and concepts. Exercising routines, listening to music, or any other patterned but varied…"

"Even in Mr. Hales argument I see a persistence in the belief that 'wiggle room' exists for superstitions and other instances of "prove my negative." In his case, this belief is couched in platitudes about the mystifying depths of…"

"If freethinkers could reason with believers, there would be no believers ---- true common sense helped by science leads to atheist wisdom."

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